Healthcarehttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/healthcare
en-usFri, 09 Dec 2016 12:16:12 -0500Fri, 09 Dec 2016 12:16:12 -0500The latest news on Healthcare from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-a-new-kind-of-financial-crisis-2016-12America has an Obamacare dilemmahttp://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-a-new-kind-of-financial-crisis-2016-12
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:17:00 -0500Jeff Desjardins
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/584828e7ba6eb67d058b7e12-783/undefined" alt="U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, the comprehensive healthcare reform legislation during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 23, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act dubbed Obamacare the comprehensive healthcare reform legislation at the White House in Washington"></p><p>The future of Obamacare is uncertain, to say the least.</p>
<p>President-elect Donald Trump has consistently called to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act throughout his campaign, but many pundits see this as being a catch-22 for the incoming administration.</p>
<p>America’s healthcare system is already <a href="http://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-healthcare-system-global-outlier-not-good-way/">a global outlier (in a bad way)</a>, with disproportionate amounts of money being spent for very little return on life expectancy. For that reason, many people see the additional coverage of 20 million new people through Obamacare as a crucial step forward.</p>
<p>However, this new coverage hasn’t come without major challenges. Obamacare is plagued by soaring premiums, insurers leaving the program, and coverage monopolies in certain states. This puts America’s healthcare at an inflection point, and no one really seems to know how to solve it.</p>
<h2>THE OBAMACARE DILEMMA</h2>
<p>The following infographic from <a href="http://www.healthgrad.com/topics/whats-going-happen-healthcare-becomes-bubble/">Healthgrad</a> sums up the most recent metrics on Obamacare, as well as showing the double and triple digit rises in premiums that some states are facing.</p>
<p><div>
<div style="clear:both"><a href="http://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-obamacare-dilemma/"><img src="http://2oqz471sa19h3vbwa53m33yj.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/whats-happening-with-healthcare.png" border="0"></a></div>
<div>Courtesy of: <a href="http://www.visualcapitalist.com">Visual Capitalist</a>
</div>
</div></p>
<p> As the infographic notes, the cost of healthcare has continued to escalate year after year, outpacing both inflation and wage growth. Obamacare has not been immune from this trend, and premiums are now being hiked because of low enrollment, mispriced plans, a dwindling pool of insurers, decreased competition in exchanges, and sicker patients than expected.</p>
<p>Despite only <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/1/obamacare-repeal-only-quarter-americans-support-it/">25% of Americans</a> supporting the outright repeal of Obamacare, it’s looking more and more likely that the healthcare system of tomorrow won’t look quite like it does today.</p>
<h2>THE POST-OBAMACARE ERA</h2>
<p>Right now, nobody knows quite what the future holds for U.S. healthcare.</p>
<p>Repealing or replacing Obamacare is fraught with at least <a href="http://www.ipi.org/ipi_issues/article_detail.asp?name=matthews-the-six-challenges-facing-an-obamacare-repeal">six major issues</a>, but perhaps the most significant one is a lack of decisiveness within the Republican party itself. What would Obamacare be replaced with, and how would that change be implemented?</p>
<p>Interestingly, there are <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/11/17/13626438/obamacare-replacement-plans-comparison">at least seven</a> Republican plans that have been tabled to replace Obamacare. Within that group, two of the more prominent ones come from Georgia Rep. Tom Price and House Speaker Paul Ryan.</p>
<p>Tom Price, who is Trump’s pick as the incoming secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has already published his <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2016/12/01/now-we-know-what-the-republican-obamacare-replacement-plan-will-look-like/">consumer-driven healthcare model</a>, and it already exists in legal language. In additional, Paul Ryan released his own proposal in the form of the <a href="https://abetterway.speaker.gov/_assets/pdf/ABetterWay-HealthCare-PolicyPaper.pdf">A Better Way</a> plan earlier this year, which also touches on other issues such as poverty, national security, and the economy.</p>
<p>Despite the number of options, the problem is that no one can agree on a particular solution. The party is heavily divided, and Trump is already receiving <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/12/06/tea-party-republicans-already-planning-major-resistance-to-donald-trumps-obamacare-replacement-plan/">heavy blowback</a> from the Tea Party faction for telegraphing potential delays in repealing or replacing the act.</p>
<p>Yes, the future of U.S. healthcare is murky – even to Trump and the GOP. However, what is clear is that with most chips stacked in the Republicans favor over the coming years, it is unlikely that they will miss the opportunity to initiate the post-Obamacare era in some shape or form.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-trade-war-enemy-2016-12" >TRUMP: 'We have to look' at trade 'almost as a war'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-a-new-kind-of-financial-crisis-2016-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spot-massive-hole-sun-coronal-hole-video-2016-12">NASA just spotted a massive hole growing on the sun — here’s what it means</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-spending-as-percent-of-gdp-recession-2016-12Healthcare spending in the US just did something that rarely happens outside a recessionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-spending-as-percent-of-gdp-recession-2016-12
Sat, 03 Dec 2016 10:00:00 -0500Bob Bryan
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5841e1deba6eb603688b655d-2222/undefined" alt="shot in the arm vaccine" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" /></p><p>The amount that the US is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/out-of-pocket-healthcare-payments-skyrocketing-2016-9">spending on healthcare</a> jumped $3.2 trillion in 2015, a 5.8% increase from the year before, according to the new <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2016/11/22/hlthaff.2016.1330.full">National Health Spending Report (NHSR)</a> from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.</p>
<p>This accelerated&nbsp;from&nbsp;the 5.3% growth in 2014, but is still slightly below the average annual growth from the past 30 years.</p>
<p>While the overall growth was certainly interesting, perhaps the bigger news from the&nbsp;report is&nbsp;the share&nbsp;of&nbsp;US GDP derived from healthcare spending increased, a phenomenon&nbsp;typically not seen outside of a recession. Usually during expansions, GDP and healthcare spending growth tend to move more or less in line with each other, keeping the percentage roughly constant from year to year.</p>
<p>According to the NHSR, nominal GDP growth over the past two years&nbsp;was 4.0% annually on average while healthcare spending grew 5.5% annually. Thus, healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP increased by 0.6 percentage points over those two years, with 0.4 percentage points of that coming in 2015 alone.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5841e20cba6eb6d3008b7522-1135/screen shot 2016-12-02 at 40454 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016 12 02 at 4.04.54 PM" data-mce-source="Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services" /></p>
<p>Typically, an increase of this nature indicates the US is in or near a recession, according to the NHSR.</p>
<p>"Increases of this magnitude in the health spending share of the overall economy typically occur around periods of economic recession," <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2016/11/22/hlthaff.2016.1330.full">said the report.</a></p>
<p>Healthcare spending is less elastic than other types of personal spending,&nbsp;so even in a recession this spending likely won't decrease too much. But then, with overall GDP shrinking,&nbsp;the percentage of GDP&nbsp;derived from the more or less constant healthcare sector grows as the rest of the economy turns downwards. Put another way,&nbsp;fewer people are going out and buying large amounts of cars and clothes during an economic downturn, but are unlikely to cancel their prescription medicine or not get surgery for a broken leg, so healthcare claims a bigger share of spending.</p>
<p>The NHRS noted, however, that the US is decidedly not in a recession. Instead, the report cited two factors that have caused the increase.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For one, the amount being spent by private insurers jumped 7.2% in 2015 due to the fact that more and more people are getting insured through employers and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/affordable-care-act-open-enrollment-begins-2016-10">the Affordable Care Act</a>, better known as Obamacare.</p>
<p>"Strong growth in 2014 and 2015 was due, in part, to increased enrollment in private health insurance in both years associated with coverage expansions under the ACA," <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2016/11/22/hlthaff.2016.1330.full">said the report.</a> "Additionally, in 2015 there was a notable increase in enrollment in employer-sponsored plans (1.4%) as the labor market continued to improve.</p>
<p>Additionally, the cost of prescription drugs increased by 9.0% from the year before, lower than in 2014 but higher than in past years. This issue has bubbled up over the past year as well with the Daraprim and EpiPen scandals.</p>
<p>"Although slower than the rate of 12.4 percent in 2014, growth in prescription drug spending was faster than that of any other service in 2015," <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2016/11/22/hlthaff.2016.1330.full">said the NHRS report.</a></p>
<p>"Its recent rapid growth was primarily due to increased spending on new medicines, price growth for existing brand-name drugs, increased spending on generics, and a decrease in the number of expensive blockbuster drugs whose patents expired."</p>
<p>Thus, these structural shifts in healthcare costs&nbsp;and the weaker economic growth of the past year, caused the surge in&nbsp;healthcare's share of total spending.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-trump-election-2016-11" >Obamacare is close to death after Trump's election</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-spending-as-percent-of-gdp-recession-2016-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dermatologist-best-way-wash-your-face-2016-11">The 3 worst things you do when you wash your face — according to a dermatologist</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-sight-space-radiology-2016-11Scientists have finally figured out why astronauts lose their vision while in spacehttp://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-sight-space-radiology-2016-11
Fri, 02 Dec 2016 15:13:25 -0500Lydia Ramsey
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/583f2f6ae02ba72a008b6e27-924/undefined" alt="NASA astronaut Scott Kelly" data-mce-source="NASA" /></p><p>Radiologists have finally figured out why astronauts who spend a lot of time in space get impaired vision.</p>
<p>The problem, called visual impairment intracranial pressure (VIIP) syndrome, has been reported in two-thirds of astronauts who&nbsp;go up to the International Space Station.</p>
<p>And <a href="https://press.rsna.org/timssnet/media/pressreleases/PDF/pressreleasePDF.cfm?ID=1915">according to a new study</a>&nbsp;from researchers at the University of Miami &mdash; reported Monday at the Radiological Society of North America's annual conference &mdash; those changes to the eye have everything to do with changes in the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.&nbsp;</p>
<p>There have been a few theories about why astronauts have VIIP syndrome after spending a long time in space: <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1257.html">one of the running hypotheses </a>had to do with vascular fluid shifting toward the brain during spaceflight, which would cause the eye to change shape.</p>
<p>So to examine what exactly was happening, researchers at the University of Miami took&nbsp;brain MRIs before and after astronauts went to space. Nine astronauts had been in space for a short duration, while seven had been up in the ISS for a long period of time.</p>
<p>What they found by looking at these images was that the astronauts who were in space long-term had more flattened eyes and more inflamed optic nerves. And interestingly, they also found that the astronauts who had spent more time in space experienced a larger increase in&nbsp;cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) &mdash; the clear fluid that surrounds and protects the brain and spine &mdash; than the astronauts that had been in space for a short amount of time.</p>
<p>In the end, the researchers said&nbsp;that CSF &mdash; not vascular fluid &mdash; "has a direct role in spaceflight induced ocular changes," <a href="https://press.rsna.org/timssnet/rsna/media/pr2016/alperin/abstract/alperin.pdf">the study concluded</a>. The reason this happens has a lot to do with the difference in pressure between Earth and space.</p>
<p>"On Earth, the CSF system is built to accommodate these pressure changes, but in space the system is confused by the lack of the posture-related pressure changes," lead author and professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at the University of Miami Noam Alperin said in a news release.</p>
<p>Researchers have been looking at vision problems in astronauts <a href="http://www.airspacemag.com/space/scott-kellys-year-space-180953946/?no-ist">for years</a>, though for the most part researchers had considered the effects on eyesight reversible. More recently, it appears that some of those vision problems do <a href="http://www.airspacemag.com/space/scott-kellys-year-space-180953946/?no-ist">stick around</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now that the cause has&nbsp;been identified, the hope is to develop ways to prevent those eye changes from happening, which will be critical as humans plan to embark on longer space trips.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/innovations-in-radiology-2016-11" >5 innovations in radiology that could impact everything from the Zika virus to dermatology</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/rsna-2016" >More news from RSNA 2016</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-sight-space-radiology-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/cubas-excellent-healthcare-system-isnt-propaganda-2016-11I spent 7 years in Cuba as a medical student — the island's excellent healthcare system isn't propagandahttp://www.businessinsider.com/cubas-excellent-healthcare-system-isnt-propaganda-2016-11
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 19:06:00 -0500Rich Warner
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/583f413ae02ba72a008b6e91-2400/ap480621761418.jpg" alt="A government run neighborhood clinic in Havana, Cuba." data-mce-source="Franklin Reyes/AP Photo" data-mce-caption="A government run neighborhood clinic in Havana, Cuba." /></p><p>Pundits have been discussing the merits (or not) of Fidel Castro&rsquo;s legacy as his body lies in state.</p>
<p>The Cuban healthcare system is often stated as one of El Commandante&rsquo;s greatest achievements.</p>
<p>But how great is the system really? As someone who trained as a doctor in Cuba, I&rsquo;d like to give you an insider&rsquo;s view.</p>
<p>The Cuban healthcare system, borne out of its revolutionary socialist ideology, regards accessibility to healthcare as a fundamental right of its citizens.</p>
<p>It focuses heavily on a preventative approach to medicine and offering the simplest check-up to the most complex surgery, free of charge. Dental care, medicines and even home visits from doctors are all covered by the system.</p>
<p>The island has the health statistics to support this seemingly impeccable system. An infant mortality rate of 4.2 per thousand births (compared with a rate of <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN?locations=GB">3.5 per thousand births in the UK in 2015</a>), life expectancy of 77 years for men and 81 years for women (on par with the UK&rsquo;s <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.FE.IN?locations=GB">life expectancy of 79 years for men and 83 years for women</a>), and a doctor to patient ratio of one per 150, which surpasses many developed nations (UK ratio from the latest World Bank data is <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.MED.PHYS.ZS?locations=GB">2.8 doctors per 1,000 patients</a>). It is no surprise therefore, that the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, during a visit to Cuba hailed its healthcare service as, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sgsm15619.doc.htm">a model for many countries</a>&rdquo;.</p>
<h2>Doing a lot with a little</h2>
<p>Is all of this just propaganda? My answer would be no. I had the opportunity to spend seven years in this country as a medical student and saw firsthand the positives as well as the negatives of this healthcare service.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/583f41cde02ba72a008b6e98-2400/ap526501465127.jpg" alt="The government run community Medical Clinic Robert Zulueta in Havana, Cuba." data-mce-source="Franklin Reyes/AP Photo" data-mce-caption="The government run community Medical Clinic Robert Zulueta in Havana, Cuba." /></p>
<p>As an American citizen, I was always impressed by how much Cubans were able to accomplish with so little. The professionalism and humility displayed by healthcare workers was without doubt commendable.</p>
<p>It is these people who though receiving paltry salaries (doctors earn about &pound;52 a month), are in many instances overworked because thousands of their colleagues were <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8059287.stm">sent to other countries</a> such as Venezuela and Brazil to participate in <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-brazil-idUSKCN0Y32T7">healthcare missions</a>.</p>
<p>In addition they do this without access to the latest in diagnostic technology or have to wait weeks for basic equipment to arrive at hospitals to perform procedures, even at times without electricity or running water. They still find the strength to push through all these obstacles and challenges to deliver a service worthy of praise.</p>
<p>Cuban doctors generally remark that becoming a doctor in their country is not about the money but about the need to help others. This was one of the first things I was taught in medical school. Though a noble sentiment, this is a main issue with the Cuban model.</p>
<p>The government spends roughly US$300-$400(&pound;240-&pound;320) per person each year on healthcare, pays doctors $64 (&pound;52) per month, but gains about US$8 billion (&pound;6.4 billion) annually as a result of its overseas medical missions. It&rsquo;s difficult to say where the gains obtained by the government is invested.</p>
<p>Many doctors opt for participating in these missions as the salaries they receive are remarkably better (even though the Cuban government receives about a third of it). Sending thousands of doctors overseas, though a commendable action, leaves a domestic system under pressure.</p>
<p>With fewer doctors and specialists at home, queues at hospitals and clinics are longer, and so are waiting times. Doctors have more work to cover in a stressful profession with limited resources.</p>
<p>A patient may end up travelling to another province to visit a specialist because the one stationed nearest to him or her has been sent to Venezuela. This may be the reason why many more medical professionals are currently being trained across Cuba to help fill the void left by those sent around the globe.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/583f422eba6eb606688b5e27-2400/ap783881271324.jpg" alt="A nurse checks the blood pressure of patient." data-mce-source="Franklin Reyes/AP Photo" data-mce-caption="A nurse checks the blood pressure of patient." /></p>
<h2>Crumbling infrastructure</h2>
<p>The healthcare infrastructure in Cuba also requires serious attention. Some of the clinics and hospitals in operation are in dire need of repairs. So too is the urgent need of more modern medical equipment and stable electricity and water.</p>
<p>These issues however, cannot be solely placed at the feet of the Cuban government as the trade embargo placed on Cuba by the US government has had detrimental effect. An example of this is sourcing medical equipment from as far as China instead of a neighbouring country like the US.</p>
<p>With all these difficulties the country&rsquo;s continued <a href="http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/5/08-030508/en/">emphasis on primary healthcare and prevention</a> may be the key to its success.</p>
<p>The island continues to offer hundreds of scholarships annually to foreign students including those from the US. These scholarships are generally open to students from low income families who may not have been able to attend medical school because of their socioeconomic background.</p>
<p>The Latin American School of Medicine (Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina) is one of the largest medical schools in the western hemisphere with thousands of students from over 100 different countries.</p>
<p>The Cuban healthcare service has stood the test of time. It has afforded a foreigner like myself the opportunity to study a career free of charge while many of my colleagues are thousands of dollars in debt after attending medical schools in the US.</p>
<p>It ensures that open heart surgery doesn&rsquo;t result in lifelong indebtedness. It has created <a href="http://www.who.int/features/2013/cuba_biotechnology/en/">globally competitive</a> biotechnology <a href="https://nacla.org/article/cuba%E2%80%99s-pharmaceutical-advantage">and pharmaceutical industries</a>. It doesn&rsquo;t turn people away because of their socioeconomic status. It is a system that has been there for its people. Yes, it has its flaws and challenges which need remedying, but it is not merely a propaganda tool for the powers that be.</p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rich-warner-319192">Rich Warner</a>, PhD Candidate, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/anglia-ruskin-university-1887">Anglia Ruskin University</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-cuban-healthcare-system-really-as-great-as-people-claim-69526">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/69526/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" async="async"></script><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cubas-excellent-healthcare-system-isnt-propaganda-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-plane-drops-armored-humvees-5000-feet-2016-11">Watch the Air Force drop 8 armored Humvees out of a plane from 5,000 feet</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/number-of-americans-struggling-with-medical-bills-decreasing-2016-11Fewer Americans are struggling to pay their medical billshttp://www.businessinsider.com/number-of-americans-struggling-with-medical-bills-decreasing-2016-11
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:15:00 -0500Bob Bryan
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/583f13d6ba6eb601688b5d56-2222/undefined" alt="doctor patient pacemaker" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" /></p><p>While the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/out-of-pocket-healthcare-payments-skyrocketing-2016-9">out of pocket costs&nbsp;of healthcare</a>&nbsp;have increased for many in recent years due to shifts in the insurance market, it appears fewer Americans are struggling with medical bills than in previous years.</p>
<p>According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the percentage of Americans under 65 who reported that their family had&nbsp;trouble paying medical bills in the past 12 months was down to 16.2% in the first half of 2016.</p>
<p>This is down from 16.4% in 2015 and 21.3% from 2011, just five years prior.</p>
<p>According to the NCHS, the drop in the number of people having trouble with their bills coincides with the drop in the rate of Americans without health insurance, which hit is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/americans-without-health-insurance-all-time-low-uninsured-rate-2016-9">lowest rate ever in the first half of 2016.</a></p>
<p>"During this time period, there have been changes in the prevalence of uninsured persons," said <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/probs_paying_medical_bills_jan_2011_jun_2016.pdf">the report from the NCHS.</a> "In the first 6 months of 2016, 28.1 million (10.4%) persons under age 65 were uninsured at the time of interview&mdash;17.8 million fewer persons than in 2011 (17.3%) but only 0.3 million fewer persons than in 2015 (a non-significant difference)."</p>
<p>The drop off has also occurred since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/583f0e25e02ba72a008b6d84-899/screen shot 2016-11-30 at 123609 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016 11 30 at 12.36.09 PM" data-mce-source="National Center for Health Statistics" /></p>
<p>Now since this is simply bills, it does not include premium payments for insurers, which have gone up.</p>
<p>The data is part of the broader National Health Interview Health Survey, which interviewed nearly 600,000 Americans in a national representative sample and is generally considered the best data on the state of healthcare.</p>
<p>The decrease also came across the board, regardless of age and sex. Of note, the struggle to pay medical bills has decreased for people with all types of coverage: private insurance, public insurance, or no insurance at all.</p>
<p>Thus, this could be a combination of increased coverage as well as the generally improving labor market. With unemployment down and wage increasing at their fastest pace since the financial crisis, the income boost may be helping manage bills.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/583f0fdbe02ba72a008b6d93-782/screen shot 2016-11-30 at 124324 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016 11 30 at 12.43.24 PM" data-mce-source="National Center for Health Statistics" /></p>
<p>The decline was also most striking for those on the lower end of the income spectrum. According to the survey, the percentage of people&nbsp;living under the poverty threshold that have reported problems paying medical bills has decreased from 32.1% in 2011 to 23.0% in the first six months of 2016.</p>
<p>For those considered "near poor" by the NCHS &mdash;&nbsp;for 2016 this would be a single person earning&nbsp;between $11,770 and $23,540 annually &mdash; the measure has decrease from 34.6% in 2011 to 24.9% this year.</p>
<p>For the near poor, the extension of Medicaid under the ACA may have played a role in the decrease.</p>
<p>In terms of ethnicities,&nbsp;all groups saw their inability to pay medical bills decrease since 2011. Interestingly, however, the percentage of non-Hispanic blacks reporting trouble with bills ticked up slightly between 2015 and 2016.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/583f120eba6eb602688b5c8b-785/screen shot 2016-11-30 at 125256 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016 11 30 at 12.52.56 PM" data-mce-source="National Center for Health Statistics" /></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-open-enrollment-soaring-2016-11" >The number of people signing up for Obamacare is soaring</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/number-of-americans-struggling-with-medical-bills-decreasing-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trailer-martin-scorsese-film-silence-paramount-andrew-garfield-liam-neeson-adam-driver-2016-11">Watch the trailer for the new Martin Scorsese film that took over 20 years to make</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/bringing-value-based-care-to-hospitals-and-radiology-2016-11Pay for medical care only if it works? Industry faces massive shift toward value-based carehttp://www.businessinsider.com/bringing-value-based-care-to-hospitals-and-radiology-2016-11
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 12:21:41 -0500Lydia Ramsey
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/583f0156e02ba7e5008b6d3b-2400?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" alt="GettyImages 151262787" width="400" height="300" data-mce-source="Adam Berry /Getty" /></p><p></p>
<p>Dr. Vivian Lee, the dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Utah, pulled up a slide with a Google search.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Typed into it were the words "radiologists are..." The top auto-fill result? Parasites.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's easy to see why the conclusion could&nbsp;be made: procedures like MRIs or CT scans can often be costly, and the array&nbsp;of tests and images that are&nbsp;run during a doctors' visit can seem excessive, almost as if the goal is to make money off each report, so the more the merrier.</p>
<p>Lee, a radiologist herself, was speaking at the Radiological Society of North America's annual conference about bringing value to healthcare.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"There are clearly some questions about the value of our role and the value of our field," Lee said in the talk Monday at the conference.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Right now, a massive shift is underway as the heathcare industry&nbsp;moves toward&nbsp;"value-based care," which&nbsp;aims to improve the quality of care and cut costs. In essence, payments to providers &mdash; be they doctors, hospitals or pharmaceutical companies, for example &mdash; are tied to the effectiveness of the treatment. The primary beneficiaries, in theory, are patients and insurers. The latter, for example, are in some cases negotiating&nbsp;to pay for a new drug only&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/health-insurers-push-to-tie-drug-prices-to-outcomes-1462939262">if it works for a particular&nbsp;patient</a>.</p>
<p>It's something <a href="http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2016/07/08/value-based-reimbursement-the-rock-thrown-into-the-health-care-pond/">the government</a> in particular has been pushing for. In 2014, 20% of Medicare was connected to value-based payments. In 2016, that number was 30%. By 2018, HHS wants 90% of payments to be tied to value.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The transition is essentially moving healthcare from a fee-for-service care to value-based care. Here's a simple explanation of the difference:&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/583eff39ba6eb634008b6cbc-1200/bi-graphicshow value based care works.png" alt="BI Graphics_How Value Based Care works" data-mce-source="Skye Gould/Business Insider" /></p>
<p>This switch is key as economic pressures in the healthcare industry change. Healthcare is facing a significant crisis in the US, Lee noted in her talk. She&nbsp;cited a chart that showed healthcare costs rising 50X more than wages have over the last 50 years.</p>
<p>A lot of that, Lee said, could be attributed to healthcare not understanding its costs. And that's something she hopes radiology can help change.</p>
<p>"<span>These are the areas I hope our field will contribute to:&nbsp;d</span>rive the value of imaging by using imaging to assess the value of new tests, new drugs, and new devices, and integrate imaging into better clinical diagnosis and better decision making," she said. &nbsp;</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/innovations-in-radiology-2016-11" >5 innovations in radiology that could impact everything from the Zika virus to dermatology</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bringing-value-based-care-to-hospitals-and-radiology-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-open-enrollment-soaring-2016-11The number of people signing up for Obamacare is soaringhttp://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-open-enrollment-soaring-2016-11
Wed, 30 Nov 2016 10:45:23 -0500Bob Bryan
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/583ef041e02ba75f658b5c18-2222/undefined" alt="barack obama smile" data-mce-source="Sean Gallup/Getty Images" /></p><p>Though the future of the law is in doubt, the number of people signing up for health-insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is crushing the pace of enrollments in previous years.</p>
<p>According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the public Obamacare marketplaces, 2,137,717 Americans have signed up for plans through the various provisions of the ACA in November.</p>
<p>"Over 2.1 million people have selected plans using the Healthcare.gov platform since Open Enrollment began on November 1, including over half a million new consumers and 1.6 million consumers renewing their coverage," the release from CMS said.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hhs-open-enrollment-obamacare-estimates-2016-10">The Department of Health and Human Services expects 13.8 million people</a> to sign up for plans during open-enrollment season, which runs from November 1 through January 31.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/SecBurwell/status/803975932906262528"></a>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/affordable-care-act-open-enrollment-begins-2016-10">number of sign-ups</a> is higher than&nbsp;it was over the same period in previous years, according to CMS.</p>
<p>"Enrollments for these two weeks represent an increase of 167,000 plan selections versus the third and fourth weeks of Open Enrollment last year," the release said. "In addition, the total number of plan selections at this point exceeds last year by over 97,000, even though this year's totals include two fewer days."</p>
<p>The sign-up data comes just two days after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-price-donald-trump-hhs-secretary-obamacare-2016-11">President-elect Donald Trump</a> nominated Rep. Tom Price as his pick for secretary of the HHS. Price is a longtime critic of Obamacare and has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-price-donald-trump-hhs-secretary-obamacare-2016-11">vowed to repeal and replace the law</a>.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-price-donald-trump-hhs-secretary-obamacare-2016-11" >Trump's new Cabinet pick wants to destroy Obamacare</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-open-enrollment-soaring-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trailer-martin-scorsese-film-silence-paramount-andrew-garfield-liam-neeson-adam-driver-2016-11">Watch the trailer for the new Martin Scorsese film that took over 20 years to make</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/adult-americans-not-getting-healthcare-needed-because-too-expensive-2016-11One third of adult Americans aren't getting the healthcare they need because it's too expensivehttp://www.businessinsider.com/adult-americans-not-getting-healthcare-needed-because-too-expensive-2016-11
Sat, 19 Nov 2016 10:50:00 -0500Beth Braverman
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/57fd30b44046dd1b008b51af-2400/ap_16147698056354.jpg" alt="doctors patient healthcare" data-mce-source="Gerald Herbert/AP Images" data-mce-caption="In a Friday, May 6, 2016 photo, Medical resident Dr. Cameron Collier briefs a group of medical residents and medical students as they visit with a patient." /></p><p>President-elect Donald Trump&rsquo;s promise to repeal and replace Obamacare has highlighted many of the problems with the law, including its failure to make health care affordable for many Americans.</p>
<p>A full third of American adults said that they went without recommended care last year, according to a <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/news/news-releases/2016/nov/osborn-wf-ff_embargoed_v2.pdf">new report from the Commonwealth Fund</a>. That rate is down from 37 percent in 2013, but it&rsquo;s still nearly triple the rate of consumers who can&rsquo;t afford recommended care in other developed countries.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth survey compared experiences with health care services in 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Excluding the U.S., 13 percent of adults surveyed report problems accessing health care due to cost. Cost-related problems include not filling a prescription, not seeing a doctor when sick, or not getting recommended care.</p>
<p>The authors cite several reasons that affordability is a persistent issue in the United States, including the lack of true universal coverage (there are still 28 million uninsured Americans), the high cost of deductibles in the United States, and the high price of medical services here. The health care systems in each country are different with respect to access, wait times and available drugs and treatments, but even so, the U.S. system remains an outlier in many respects.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/582f4839ba6eb620008b5425-800/screen shot 2016-11-18 at 1.27.10 pm.png" alt="Healthcare" data-mce-source="The Fiscal Times" /></p>
<p>Still, the study authors aren&rsquo;t convinced that <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/healthcare-reform">Trump&rsquo;s solution</a>, which would bring &ldquo;free market reforms&rdquo; to the industry, would make health care more affordable for Americans.</p>
<p>Citing a <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/blog/2016/nov/~/link.aspx?_id=10A765A318D1492DA8C3CACB5C5AFE40&amp;_z=z">separate Commonwealth analysis</a>, they believe his plan could increase the number of uninsured by 20 million and increase the out-of-pocket costs of individual market enrollees by $1,500. &ldquo;While it&rsquo;s still too early to make predictions about where the Trump administration will take U.S. health care, closing the gap with other countries will require building on our progress, not reversing it,&rdquo; they <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/blog/2016/nov/americans-cost-barrier-decreasing-more-improvement-needed">wrote in a blog post</a> on the report.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-presidential-yacht-sold-for-0-2016-11" >The yacht that used to be passed down to each new US president just sold for $0</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/adult-americans-not-getting-healthcare-needed-because-too-expensive-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dermatologist-best-way-wash-your-face-2016-11">The 3 worst things you do when you wash your face — according to a dermatologist</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-generals-plan-to-fix-the-opioid-crisis-2016-11There's no easy fix for the opioid crisis, but the surgeon general's plan is a starthttp://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-generals-plan-to-fix-the-opioid-crisis-2016-11
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 19:25:00 -0500Keegan Hamilton
<p><span><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/582f6d72e02ba7e5008b55d6-2400/gettyimages-532662748.jpg" alt="Family members hold the pictures of their love ones who killed by opioid epidemic." data-mce-source="Alex Wong/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Family members hold the pictures of their love ones who killed by opioid epidemic." />Amid the divisiveness of the 2016 election, one issue&nbsp;united both parties: the need to address opioid addiction in America. </span></p>
<p><span>Hillary Clinton </span><a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/addiction/"><span>proposed</span></a><span> &ldquo;a bold plan to prevent and treat addiction,&rdquo; and President-elect Donald Trump said flatly on the campaign trail: </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-remarks-in-portsmouth-nh"><span>&ldquo;We have to solve this crisis.&rdquo;</span></a></p>
<p><span>But exactly how Trump plans to tackle the problem that now that he&rsquo;s headed to the White House remains unclear. </span></p>
<p><span>Perhaps with that in mind, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is offering some guidance in </span><span>the first-ever &ldquo;<a href="https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/surgeon-generals-report.pdf">Surgeon General&rsquo;s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health</a>&rdquo; on Wednesday.</span></p>
<p><span>The </span><a href="https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/surgeon-generals-report.pdf"><span>428-page report</span></a><span> includes some alarming statistics, like the fact that 20 million Americans have substance use disorders, but only about 10 percent of them ever receive any type of specialty treatment. It also notes that prescription painkillers and heroin now kill more than 74 Americans each day, making drug overdoses the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.</span></p>
<p><span>The surgeon general&rsquo;s guide to solving the problem includes:</span></p>
<p><strong>Expand access to medically-assisted treatments</strong><span>&nbsp;(MAT) such as methadone and buprenorphine, also known as Suboxone. The surgeon general questioned the effectiveness of the abstinence-only approaches to addiction, and said &ldquo;studies have repeatedly demonstrated the efficacy of MAT at reducing illicit drug use and overdose deaths.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><strong>Stop reality TV-style &ldquo;interventions.&rdquo;</strong> <span>&ldquo;Confrontational approaches in general, though once the norm even in many behavioral treatment settings, have not been found effective and may backfire by heightening resistance and diminishing self-esteem on the part of the targeted individual,&rdquo; the report says.</span></p>
<p><strong>Get better at prevention.</strong><span>&nbsp;&ldquo;Studies have found that many schools and communities are using prevention programs and strategies that have little or no evidence of effectiveness,&rdquo; the report says.</span></p>
<p><strong>Fix&nbsp;the healthcare system.</strong><strong>&nbsp;</strong><span>The suggestions include combining mental and behavioral health services with substance abuse treatment, and expanding insurance coverage to lower the cost of going to rehab.</span></p>
<p><span><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/57d35963b0ef975f148b4a9e-2400/ap85001905245.jpg" alt="drug overdose opioid epidemic" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Brynn Anderson" data-mce-caption="Patty DiRenzo puts her hand to her face to give a kiss to her son, Salvatore Marchese's grave, Monday, July 16, 2012, in Blackwood, NJ. DiRenzo's son died of a drug overdose on Sept. 23, 2010." /></span></p>
<p><span>Whether or not any of this will translate to action by the federal government remains to be seen. Trump has </span><a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-remarks-in-portsmouth-nh"><span>vowed</span></a><span> to &ldquo;stop the flow of illegal drugs into the country&rdquo; by kicking out undocumented immigrants and cracking down on illicit drug shipments from China, and he lauded his running mate Mike Pence for increasing mandatory-minimum sentences for drug offenders. Those are the same approaches the U.S. has been taking for years, and exactly the opposite of what Murthy recommends.</span></p>
<p><span>As </span><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/759ddd90eba14db69d30f2d484783f14"><span>noted</span></a><span> by the Associated Press, Trump and Republicans in Congress have also promised to repeal Obamacare, &ldquo;which made addiction treatment an essential health benefit.&rdquo; Trump has also said he&rsquo;ll also take steps to &ldquo;dramatically expand access to treatment slots and end Medicaid policies that obstruct inpatient treatment.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span>&ldquo;I would also expand incentives for states and local governments to use drug courts and mandated treatment,&rdquo; Trump said in October. &ldquo;These can be a cost effective, appropriate, and humane response to addiction.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span>But how these programs will work and who will pay for them are questions that remain unanswered. Trump will almost certainly opt to replace Murthy with his own appointment, but the surgeon general offered some advice for the future.</span></p>
<p><span>&ldquo;We need to invest more in expanding the scientific evidence base for prevention, treatment, and recovery,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;We must help everyone see that addiction is not a character flaw &mdash; it is a chronic illness that we must approach with the same skill and compassion with which we approach heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.&rdquo;</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-generals-plan-to-fix-the-opioid-crisis-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/income-state-top-one-percent-salary-map-2016-11">Here's how much you need to make to be in the top 1% of every state</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-trump-healthcare-2016-11POLL: Americans want Trump to focus on healthcare firsthttp://www.businessinsider.com/poll-trump-healthcare-2016-11
Thu, 17 Nov 2016 14:45:57 -0500Chris Kahn
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/58138f25b28a6477058b59af-2400/gettyimages-618594052.jpg" alt="Donald Trump" data-mce-source="Maddie McGarvey/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Donald Trump." /></p><p></p>
<p>NEW YORK &mdash; Healthcare is the top issue Americans want Donald Trump to address during his first 100 days in the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday, an apparent rebuke of outgoing President Barack Obama's signature reform, Obamacare.</p>
<p>Some 21 percent of Americans want Trump to focus on the healthcare system when he enters the White House on Jan. 20, according to the Nov. 9-14 poll, conducted in the week after the Republican won the U.S. presidential election.</p>
<p>Jobs took second place with 16 percent of Americans hoping it would be Trump's first agenda item, while immigration came third - picked by 14 percent of Americans, according to the poll. Some 11 percent picked race relations.</p>
<p>The poll shows what priorities Americans would set on the new president, but it does not measure exactly what people want him to do. A separate Kaiser Health Tracking Poll found in late October that most Americans want cheaper prescription drugs and access to larger networks of doctors and hospitals. Only a minority, 37 percent, want to repeal Obamacare altogether and start over, as Trump has promised to do.</p>
<p>"We can't afford it -- that's the problem," said Daphne Saunders, 50, of LaFollette, Tennessee, who took the Reuters/Ipsos poll, explaining why she picked healthcare as the top issue.</p>
<p>Saunders lost her employer-subsidized insurance when she left a job at a university in 2011 and has been paying roughly $300 per month since then for check-ups and prescription drugs to manage a heart condition and diabetes.</p>
<p>She said the cheapest Obamacare plan would cost her $450 per month with a $50 co-pay every time she saw a doctor.</p>
<p>"Those premiums should be more manageable," Saunders said. "I would expect to pay no more than $100" per month.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/581dd91346e27a2d088b4ee4-2400/rtr3nkl0.jpg" alt="Obamacare protest" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="A small group of demonstrators stand outside of the HIlton Hotel and Suites prior to former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, president of the The Heritage Foundation, speaking at a &amp;quotDefund Obamacare Tour&amp;quot rally in Indianapolis August 26, 2013." /></p>
<p>Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act has been credited with expanding coverage to as many as 25 million people. But the law has been weakened through various legal challenges. Some of the biggest health insurers have pulled out of insurance exchanges after losing money, and insurance premiums have increased for those who do not receive government insurance subsidies.</p>
<p>Trump has promised to repeal Obamacare with "something that works," though he has not articulated what he would propose in its place. It is also not clear how swiftly a Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress could change the law.</p>
<p>Obama said this week he would endorse a Trump plan if it improved the healthcare system while insuring the same number of people.</p>
<h2>Getting used to 'President Trump'</h2>
<p>The poll also found that Americans have mostly accepted the result of the Nov. 8 election, after one of the most divisive campaigns in memory. Some 85 percent said they accept the results as legitimate, and 63 percent said they would support the new president.</p>
<p>The 2016 campaign appears also to have mostly energized the public. Some 45 percent of Americans say they "feel more motivated" to vote in future elections, and 42 percent are more motivated to read and inform themselves about politics.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/58261fd35124c92237b8807e-800/in-rural-urban-divide-us-voters-are-worlds-apart.jpg" alt="Voters cast their votes during the U.S. presidential election in Elyria, Ohio, U.S. November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk/File Photo" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Voters cast their votes during the U.S. presidential election in Ohio" /></p>
<p>A majority of Americans still think the country is headed on the wrong track, however, and their expectations for a Trump presidency differed according to party membership.</p>
<p>Most Republicans were optimistic about his presidency, while most Democrats were pessimistic.</p>
<p>Overall, a plurality of Americans believe Trump will be helpful for businesses and corporations, military veterans, people who work in the manufacturing industry, the middle class and the elderly. A plurality also believes that he will be harmful for gays, women, blacks, Hispanics, and people living in poverty.</p>
<p>The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,782 American adults and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.</p>
<p><em>(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Alistair Bell)</em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-healthcare-plan-obamacare-2016-11" >The glaring flaw in Trump's health plan</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-trump-healthcare-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/preauricular-sinus-small-hole-above-ear-2016-11">Here's why some people have a tiny hole above their ears</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/depression-treatment-access-mental-health-2016-11If you have depression, you likely aren't getting the treatment you needhttp://www.businessinsider.com/depression-treatment-access-mental-health-2016-11
Wed, 16 Nov 2016 12:21:00 -0500Rafi Letzter
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/57cec94909d2931b008b61b8-2000/doctor patient.jpg" alt="doctor patient" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" /></p><p></p>
<p>You ok?</p>
<p>How does your back feel? How's your energy? How's your mood?</p>
<p>There are plenty of people out there with chronic pain and low energy and who walk around feeling terrible all the time. But it never occurs to them that they might be depressed. And our healthcare system doesn't do a good job of connecting them with the screening or treatment that could help them feel better.</p>
<p>At any given moment,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-we-treat-depression-dangerous-2016-9">about 8% of adults in the US have symptoms of depression</a>. That's far more common than cancer, heart disease, or other major illnesses. And it can lop years off of people's lives. But <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-we-treat-depression-dangerous-2016-9">only about a quarter of those people</a> ever get mental health treatment.</p>
<p>So where do the missing three quarters of depressed people end up?</p>
<p>"Typically where they are is primary care," Joseph Gallo, who researches depression in the elderly at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Business Insider.</p>
<p>Depressed people turn up in waiting rooms for doctors who've geared their careers toward diagnosing and treating physical symptoms. That's a recipe for misdiagnosis and mistreatment.</p>
<p>Lloyd Sederer, the chief medical officer at the New York state Office of Mental Health, told Business Insider that tha poses a challenge to these physicians.</p>
<p>"They go to their primary care doctor not saying, 'I'm depressed,' but saying, 'I don't have any energy,' or, 'My pain doesn't go away.' Or they have diabetes or heart disease and they don't take care of themselves [and the doctors can't figure out why]," he said.</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote float_right">They go to their primary care doctor not saying, 'I'm depressed,' but saying, 'I don't have any energy,' or, 'My pain doesn't go away.' Or they have diabetes or heart disease and they don't take care of themselves [and the doctors can't figure out why.]</blockquote>
<p>Doctors might misunderstand the symptoms, or not take them seriously, which leads to worse outcomes for patients down the road.</p>
<p>"Depression is sort of like a hidden factor in heart disease, diabetes, and other medical conditions." Gallo said. "Because people don't&nbsp;take care of themselves. They don't adhere to the treatments the way they should. So they have more medical complications. That's a huge issue."</p>
<p>There are programs underway designed to get primary care doctors to screen for depression. Sederer pioneered one such screening program when he worked for the New York City government, which he has since taken statewide.</p>
<p>But both doctors agree that getting physicians to take the time to look for depression, and getting patients to report it, poses a significant challenge.</p>
<p>Primary care doctors are often overwhelmed by their patient loads, and don't feel they have enough time to sit down and ask about someone's feelings.</p>
<p>"Imagine a primary care doctor with 30 people in her waiting room," Sederer said. "She goes into a examining room, and starts to ask somebody questions about their mood, their concentration, whether they want to live. And somebody starts crying. And what does the doctor think? 'Oh my god! I'm not familiar with this. I don't know what to do with this. And my afternoon is ruined because I'm now stuck with this patient.'"</p>
<p>The result?</p>
<p>"There's a culture over time we've come to call 'Don't ask, don't tell' primary care," Sederer said.</p>
<p>Gallo adds that a big problem is that many patients with depression don't recognize their own symptoms.</p>
<p>"<span>When you talk to older people and you ask them, 'What do you think the doctor means when they say depression?' they say different things than what the doctor means," Gallo said.</span></p>
<p><span>A doctor might think of a diagnosis in terms of a list of symptoms: aches and pains, mood, energy. But patients might not draw the same conclusions. And if they have a mental image of a depressed person, there's a good chance they don't think they match it.</span></p>
<p><span>"It doesn't describe how the person thinks of themselves. So to take&nbsp;[on a depression diagnosis] is to take on the identity of the depressed person," he said.</span></p>
<p><span>Both doctors believe that a major key to improving treatment access and outcomes for depressed people is to train primary care doctors to recognize it.</span></p>
<p><span>Sederer's screening system breaks mental health down to a numerical score, which physicians can measure over time and try to improve with treatment. He says about 80% of patients could be treated that way, without ever seeing a psychiatrist.</span></p>
<p><span>But both also agree that there's a long road ahead for changing the way the health care system deals with depression.</span></p>
<p><em>Have you struggled to get treatment for depression? Have you lived with depression without knowing you were sick or getting diagnosed? Are you a doctor who's met challenges treating depression in your patients? I want to hear about it. Shoot me an email at rletzter@businessinsider.com or Tweet at me at @RafiLetzter. Thanks!</em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-climate-change-danger-action-2016-11" >If you read it closely, Trump's new website practically promises to devastate the climate</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/depression-treatment-access-mental-health-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-health-premiums-obamacare-affordable-care-act-donald-trump-2016-10">Obama says the Affordable Care Act double-digit premium increases are 'growing pains'</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/myths-about-obamacare-and-the-affordable-care-act-2016-1110 myths about Obamacare and the Affordable Care Acthttp://www.businessinsider.com/myths-about-obamacare-and-the-affordable-care-act-2016-11
Tue, 15 Nov 2016 16:09:00 -0500Brittney Laryea
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/582b46e0691e8849528b6679-1766/rtx2pmal.jpg" alt="Obamacare" data-mce-source="Lucy Nicholson/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Arminda Murillo, 54, reads a leaflet on Obamacare at a health insurance enrollment event in Cudahy, California, U.S. March 27, 2014." /></p><p>Like many <a href="http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/featured/trump-vs-clinton-platforms130944406">politically divisive issues</a> today,&nbsp;when it comes to the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction.</p>
<p>The cornerstone of the ACA (aka Obamacare) is Healthcare.gov, home of the new health care marketplace. Nov. 1 marks the beginning of open enrollment for 2017.</p>
<p>Americans have until Jan. 31 to choose a plan. We developed an in-depth guide to shopping on the marketplace, which you can find <a href="http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/health/enrolling-obamcare-healthcaregov-marketplace313798841">here</a>.</p>
<p>We also figured there could be no better time to revisit some of the misconceptions about the health care law that created it.</p>
<p>Below, we list 10 common myths associated with Obamacare.</p>
<h2>1. I have to sign up for health insurance in the federal marketplace</h2>
<p>The marketplace exists for people who do not receive health benefits through their employer, or a public program like Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children's Health Insurance Program.</p>
<p>The ACA does require all Americans to have a qualified health plan, but that hasn't stopped millions of Americans from going without. Just know that if you do not enroll in a health plan, you may face a tax penalty. There are exemptions for some groups of people. Some consumers choose to forego insurance for financial reasons &mdash;&nbsp;sometimes it costs more to pay for a health plan than to incur the tax penalty for not having insurance.</p>
<p>Before you give up on finding an affordable plan, check to see if you are eligible for a tax subsidy, which can drastically reduce the cost of your Obamacare premium.</p>
<h2>2. Obamacare hasn't changed the health care landscape all that much</h2>
<p>The percentage of uninsured Americans <a href="https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/8848-04-figure-1.png">fell to 10.5% from 16.6%</a> since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act back in 2013. The U.S. is currently experiencing its highest rate of insured people ever in history, according to a report released by the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> in September. As of February 2016, 12.7 million Americans received health coverage through the marketplace.</p>
<p>There are five other big advantages of Obamacare:</p>
<ul>
<li>Obamacare made it mandatory for insurers to cover certain <a href="http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/health/6-health-benefits-never-pay-for1094486735/">preventive services</a> such as cancer screenings and immunizations. Those services cannot count toward a patient's deductible or require a co-pay.</li>
<li>The law also allows young adults to stay on a parent's health insurance plan until they turn <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/young-adults/children-under-26/">26 years old</a> &mdash; even if they get married, go to college, move away from home, or aren't claimed on their parent's taxes as a dependent anymore.</li>
<li>No lifetime caps on how much the insurance company will pay if you get sick.</li>
<li>Insurers can't cancel your coverage midterm if you made a mistake on the paperwork.</li>
<li>The company can't deny anyone because of pre-existing conditions like asthma or diabetes.</li>
</ul>
<h2>3. If I lose my insurance, I will have to pay a fee</h2>
<p>It is true that some people will face tax penalties if they do not sign up for a qualifying health plan in a given year. But there are exceptions to this rule.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/have-job-based-coverage/if-you-lose-job-based-coverage/">If you lose your job</a>, you can purchase a plan in the marketplace outside of the open enrollment period. This applies even if you quit or get fired. If you can't afford insurance and will be uninsured for a bit, you may qualify for a short-gap exemption and avoid the tax penalty. To qualify, you can be uninsured for no longer than two consecutive months. If you don't qualify for any exemptions, you are then subject to a tax penalty for each month that you are uninsured.</p>
<h2>4. I'll have to wait longer to see my doctor if I have Obamacare</h2>
<p>When the health care exchange opened, people worried that Obamacare patients would encounter the same service delays common among Medicaid and Medicare recipients. But evidence points to the contrary. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that supports independent research on health care issues, found in its <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2016/may/aca-tracking-survey-access-to-care-and-satisfaction">2016 ACA Tracking Survey</a> that wait times for those with Medicaid or marketplace coverage were similar to wait times for other insured adults.</p>
<p>The survey found that 58% of adults with Medicaid or marketplace coverage who looked for a new primary care physician found it easy or somewhat easy to find one, and more than half of those surveyed waited less than two weeks to see a primary care physician. About 41% of those surveyed needed to see a specialist. Out of those, 60% got an appointment within two weeks.</p>
<h2>5. If I sign up for Obamacare, I have to agree to a home inspection</h2>
<p>This <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/aug/21/blog-posting/bloggers-say-obamacare-provision-will-allow-forced/">myth arose</a> after a widely circulated August 2013 blog post claimed that the health care law would allow forced home inspections. There are no forced home inspections, or home inspections at all.</p>
<p>That blogger misinterpreted the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (<a href="http://mchb.hrsa.gov/maternal-child-health-initiatives/home-visiting">MIECHV</a>), which was created with the ACA.</p>
<p>The program allows "at-risk" pregnant women or families to enroll in an optional home health care program that sends nurses to their homes. It gives moms who wouldn't normally have access to prenatal advice access to advice and care in the comfort of their homes.</p>
<h2>6. My boss might decrease my hours to avoid paying for Obamacare coverage</h2>
<p>The ACA provision that requires employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees to offer health benefits went into full effect in 2016. There was worry that employers would decrease employee hours to reduce the number of full-time employees and avoid having to pay full health benefits (under the provision, employees are considered full time if they work <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/full-time-employee/">30 hours</a> per week or more).</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2016-summary-of-findings/">report</a> from the Kaiser Family Foundation earlier this year, only 2% of employers said they were going to change job classifications from full-time to part-time so that employees would not be eligible for health benefits, while 7% said they had changed or planned to switch part-timers to full-time so that they could qualify. The report also said 12% of employers were extending or planned to extend eligibility for health benefits to workers who were not currently eligible.</p>
<p><img class="float_left" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/582b451f46e27a6e5a8b5eac-2400/rtr39nvr.jpg" alt="obamacare" data-mce-source="Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi" data-mce-caption="A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled &amp;quotThe Impact of Obamacare&amp;quot, at a &amp;quotFood for Free Minds Tea Party Rally&amp;quot in Littleton, New Hampshire Oct. 27, 2012." /></p>
<h2>7. Only very poor people qualify for tax credits</h2>
<p>Under the ACA, the majority of those who get health care through the marketplace are eligible for tax credits that can make the plans more affordable.</p>
<p>About 8 in 10 people are eligible for $290 average monthly subsidies that can bring monthly payments down to less than $100. Some small businesses that offer health benefits to employees could be eligible for a credit as well to help with affordability.</p>
<p>It is true, however, that eligibility for the tax credit is determined by a host of factors, primarily household size and income. The IRS has a <a href="https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/premium-tax-credit-flow-chart-are-you-eligible">flow chart</a> you can use to quickly see if you'd be <a href="https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/eligibility-for-the-premium-tax-credit">eligible</a> for the tax credit.</p>
<p>Premiums overall are getting more expensive, however, even for those with employer-sponsored health coverage. The rise is fueled by the rising cost of services, medicine, and other medical treatments. However, as premiums rise, subsidies rise, too, which can help offset the increase in cost.</p>
<h2>8. I won't be able to choose my own doctor anymore</h2>
<p>Simply enrolling in a health plan through the exchange won't mess with your choice of doctors. Your provider determines which doctors are accessible through your insurance plan. When policy conditions change &mdash; as they are apt to do when employers switch plans, people change or lose jobs, or when insurers alter plans &mdash; you're not guaranteed that your doctor will still be in-network.</p>
<p>Even when that happens, you may still be covered, but may have to pay more to go to a doctor outside of your network. If you're concerned about this, ask your doctor which insurers they accept, and see if you can sign up for one of those plans through your employer or the marketplace.</p>
<h2>9. If I like my plan, I can keep it no matter what</h2>
<p>You can keep your plan as long as it complies with the ACA or was <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/grandfathered-plans/">grandfathered in</a>. However, nothing in the ACA promises that you can keep your plan no matter what. Your employer could switch plans, or you could lose or switch your job and lose your current plan, as it's always been.</p>
<p>When the ACA went into effect, some insurance plans didn't meet the minimum requirements of a Qualified Health Plan. Those plans were eventually phased out and replaced with ACA-compliant plans.</p>
<h2>10. Most people were better off without Obamacare</h2>
<p>The Affordable Care Act added important consumer protections that cannot be ignored. Before the act, insurers were able to deny coverage to people because they had a pre-existing condition. Now they can't. Certain preventative care such as obesity, depression, domestic violence screening, and birth control, among <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/preventive-care-benefits/">many others</a> now must be covered by insurance without a co-pay. Overall, more people are insured, and more services are being provided.</p>
<p>In its 2016 <a href="http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/press-releases/2016/may/aca-tracking-survey-access">report</a>, the Commonwealth Fund asked 4,802 working-age adults with Medicaid or marketplace coverage about the ACA. Of those, 881 were new to marketplace or Medicaid coverage. Only 11% of those new to the marketplace and 4% of those new to Medicaid said their ability to get care had worsened.</p>
<p>It is true that Obamacare patients are seeing higher premiums year after year, but they are not alone. Premiums are also becoming more expensive for people who receive employee benefits. According to a <a href="http://kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2016-summary-of-findings/">report</a> released this year by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average health care premium for an employer-provided family plan has jumped 58% over the past 10 years, while employee contribution toward the total premium has also risen 78%.</p>
<p>Some states will be especially hard hit by <a href="http://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/health/heres-much-obamacare-plan-will-cost-2017#heres-much-obamacare-plan-will-cost-2017">price hikes</a> in 2017. The largest decrease in available plans was in Arizona, which lost six insurers. The state's enrollees will see an average 116% price increase in 2017.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-much-obamacare-premiums-are-going-up-in-every-state-2016-10" >Here's how much Obamacare premiums are going up in every state</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/myths-about-obamacare-and-the-affordable-care-act-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cook-scrambled-eggs-anthony-bourdain-2016-11">The best way to cook scrambled eggs — according to Anthony Bourdain</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-it-takes-for-president-elect-trump-to-repeal-obamacare-2016-11Here's what it takes for President-elect Trump to repeal Obamacarehttp://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-it-takes-for-president-elect-trump-to-repeal-obamacare-2016-11
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 01:42:00 -0500Bill Custer
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5824bf8e46e27a2d088b5edb-2400/gettyimages-622150226.jpg" alt="Donald Trump and Barack Obama" data-mce-source="Win McNamee/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Donald Trump and Barack Obama." /></p><p>Candidate Trump <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-the-candidates-truly-fix-or-nix-obamacare-six-essential-reads-67353">repeatedly called for repealing and replacing</a> the Affordable Care Act during the campaign, but it is unclear what President Trump will actually do about the ACA. It is not clear even with President Trump, and Republican majorities in the House and Senate, whether full repeal is possible and what replacement might look like.</p>
<p>There are several reasons for this. First, Trump would face political and financial fall-out from repeal. Second, even with Republican majorities now in the House and Senate, it would be hard to repeal the entire bill. It includes not only the establishment of the exchanges, in which people buy insurance, but also cost-saving and quality-improvement measures. Many health care professionals, systems and tax payers welcomed these.</p>
<p>Full repeal of the Affordable Care Act would result in <a href="http://time.com/money/4564243/trump-obamacare-repeal-outcome/">at least 18 million </a>Americans losing health care coverage, and that would come at a political and economic cost. According to the Commonwealth Fund, it would actually cost the federal government about US$41 billion.</p>
<p>Many of those 18 million, such as those with pre-existing conditions,<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamacare-trump-election-2016-11"> would lose coverage because health insurance would not longer be offered</a> to them at any price. Others would lose coverage because they would no longer be able to afford health insurance, assuming that subsidies go away.</p>
<p>Repeal would mean fewer resources for health care, especially in rural areas, resulting in decreased access to care.</p>
<h2>Unpopular option, but there aren&rsquo;t many others that work</h2>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5824b4d2691e881c008b605a-1623/rtx2t2gn.jpg" alt="Donald Trump Obama" data-mce-source="Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS" data-mce-caption="Trump and Obama shake hands in the Oval Office." /></p>
<p>Trump, even with the House and Senate behind him, would still face a practical hurdle. Full repeal <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/the-future-of-obamacare-looks-bleak.html">may require 60 votes in a narrowly divided Senate</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act with something entirely different without severely reducing access to care may be impossible. That&rsquo;s because it&rsquo;s the only system devised so far that uses the private market to increase coverage and that stops short of single payer government-run programs.</p>
<p>For decades, policy makers and politicians have tried to devise a way to use private markets to expand coverage to those not covered by employer-sponsored insurance.</p>
<p>The health reform framework that became the Affordable Care Act <a href="http://obamacarefacts.com/romneycare-romneyhealthcare/">has a long history </a>and many champions from all political philosophies. While the ACA will long be associated with Pres. Obama and is most often called Obamacare, many other politicians and policy makers had been working on similar plans for years.</p>
<p>The basic structure of a regulated individual insurance market with limits on pre-existing exclusions and health insurance marketplaces arose from a desire to provide access to affordable health insurance for individuals without coverage through their employer.</p>
<p>The challenge in designing a private insurance market for individuals was to match employer plans&rsquo; ability to pool risk. In employment-based coverage, employees are given coverage as part of their compensation. So healthier individuals are part of the insurance pool.</p>
<p>In purchasing insurance as individuals, consumers weigh their own risks of needing care against the cost of insurance. Some healthier individuals will rationally choose not by coverage given their lower probablity of needing health care. As a result, <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/why-individual-mandate-is-inseparable-obamacare">insurers in the individual market</a> found that consumers waited until they needed care before they purchased coverage.</p>
<p>That meant that insurers could never charge a premium high enough to cover costs. As a result, they <a href="https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/why-individual-mandate-is-inseparable-obamacare">excluded claims</a> for pre-existing coverage, denied or canceled coverage for some and charged higher premiums in the individual market for less coverage then was available through employer-based plans.</p>
<p>Without these exclusions, the <a href="http://www.hpm.org/en/Surveys/Johns_Hopkins_Bloomberg_School_of__Publ._H_-_USA/16/Pre-existing_condition_coverage_post-health_reform.html">individual market&rsquo;s insurance pool</a> is more costly, which increases premiums driving more of the healthier individuals out of the market and eventually resulting in no market at all. When people became sick with a catastrophic illness, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/why-americans-are-drowning-in-medical-debt/381163/">financial disaster was common</a>. Or, people with chronic illnesses, including diabetes and depression, faced such high premiums that they could not afford them. They went without insurance, and they, too, were vulnerable to financial ruin.</p>
<h2>George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton had similar plans</h2>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5249933feab8eaa159fa79ac-2400/george-h-w-bush-1.jpg" alt="George H. W. Bush" data-mce-source="Associated Press" data-mce-caption="U.S. President George H. Bush meets with partisan Congressional leaders to confer about the budget in the Oval Office, Wednesday, May 9, 1990 in Washington. " /></p>
<p>The recession of the early 1990s resulted in two million Americans losing their employment-based coverage. In the 1992 presidential election campaign, both incumbent <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/George_Bush_Sr__Health_Care.htm">George H. W. Bush</a> and candidate Bill Clinton had health care reform plans. Both plans were structured similarly to the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p>They both created insurance purchasing pools (similar to the ACA marketplaces), eliminated pre-existing exclusion clauses and had individual mandates and subsidies for low-income families. After the election, when it became apparent that the Clinton administration plan would be different from those plans, a group of Republican senators led by <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2013/nov/15/ellen-qualls/aca-gop-health-care-plan-1993/">Sen. John Chafee </a>(R-R.I.) developed a proposal that had all of these attributes.</p>
<h2>Then along came RomneyCare</h2>
<p>In the early years of the 21st century, then-Governor <a href="http://obamacarefacts.com/romneycare-romneyhealthcare/">Mitt Romney</a> of Massachusetts asked his staff to find ways to reduce the burden of the uninsured on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Searching for a market-based approach, they found their options narrow to a plan similar to Sen. Chafee&rsquo;s. At the time the individual mandate penalty was described not as a tax but as a measure of personal responsibility for paying for one&rsquo;s own health care.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://obamacarefacts.com/romneycare-romneyhealthcare/">Massachusetts plan became the model</a> for the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p>The reason all of these proposals resemble each other and the Affordable Care Act is that there are limited options for creating a sustainable private insurance market that allows individuals access to affordable health insurance.</p>
<p>Trump may be able to repeal the law and return to health care coverage as we knew it in 2010. Consequences, however, will be a sudden drop in access to care not just for those who lose coverage, but for many others who will lose access to care because their local hospital closes, or nearest doctor moves out of areas with high percentages of uninsured.</p>
<p>Replaced requires something that looks like the ACA: Trumpcare, perhaps?</p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bill-custer-273433">Bill Custer</a>, Director of Center for Health Services Reseach, Associate Professor, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/georgia-state-university-957">Georgia State University</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-repealing-obamacare-may-not-be-as-easy-as-trump-thinks-68562">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://theconversation.com/javascripts/lib/content_tracker_hook.js" id="theconversation_tracker_hook" data-counter="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/68562/count?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" async="async"></script><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-it-takes-for-president-elect-trump-to-repeal-obamacare-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/income-state-top-one-percent-salary-map-2016-11">Here's how much you need to make to be in the top 1% of every state</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/pharmaceutical-and-healthcare-stocks-to-benefit-from-a-trump-presidency-2016-11Trump's victory could give Europe's pharmaceutical industry a big boosthttp://www.businessinsider.com/pharmaceutical-and-healthcare-stocks-to-benefit-from-a-trump-presidency-2016-11
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 05:32:33 -0500Will Martin
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5811e918dd0895c9058b4c05-1024/pills.jpg" alt="pills" data-mce-source="Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images" data-mce-caption="There is no evidence that homeopathy has any medical value at all." data-link="http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/license/53463747" /></p><p>Confirmation that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States has had a substantial negative impact on global markets.&nbsp;</p>
<p>But&nbsp;there is one sector in Europe that looks like it could be in for a pretty hefty boost from a Trump presidency &mdash; the pharmaceuticals industry.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Earlier, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/european-stocks-crash-donald-trump-wins-presidency-2016-11">both the US futures markets, and Asian assets tumbled on news that Trump was pulling away from Clinton.</a> Then, when European markets opened, stocks across the board tumbled, with major bourses falling as much as 3.5%.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>However, on Wednesday, pharmaceutical stocks are jumping, with FTSE 100-listed Hikma Pharmaceuticals up almost 6% as of 9.50 a.m. GMT (4.50 a.m. ET). Here's how it looks:</span></p>
<p><span><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5822fb50dd089525458b49dd-945/screen shot 2016-11-09 at 09.53.15.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016 11 09 at 09.53.15" data-mce-source="Investing.com" /></span></p>
<p><span>Other pharmaceuticals companies are also charging, with Swiss listed giants Roche and Novartis both up by more than 4%, while British GlaxoSmithKline is around 1.8% higher.</span></p>
<p><span>Markets think that a Trump presidency could bring to an end the potential for "draconian" new pricing rules on drugs in the wake of scandals over prices. The issue was&nbsp;first sparked by drug company Retrophin's "pharma bro" CEO Martin Shkreli <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=5&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjF0u6gupvQAhVGJMAKHUDlDJAQFggzMAQ&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fwhy-martin-shkreli-hiked-drug-price-2015-10&amp;usg=AFQjCNHCrLRAKvbjejGVhfnv9p82m1Fvig&amp;bvm=bv.138169073,d.d24">when he announced that he was increasing the price of an antiparasitic&nbsp;drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill.</a> Price hikes for the <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-history-of-the-epipen-and-epinephrine-2016-8">anti-anaphylaxis medicine EpiPen then fuelled more outrage.</a></span></p>
<p><span>However, under a Trump presidency the likelihood&nbsp;of new legislation controlling the pricing of drugs and healthcare services is severely decreased.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-european-stocks-reaction-clinton-trump-victory-2016-11">In the bank's weekly European Equity Strategy note, circulated to clients earlier this week,</a> Deutsche Bank analysts led by Tom Pearce argue that: "</span><span>European healthcare would likely outperform under a Trump win, given it has moved inversely to the probability of a Clinton victory over the past couple of months and has historically done well in periods of rising macro uncertainty and dollar strength."</span></p>
<p><span><span>US-based investment bank Jefferies said on Wednesday morning: "Sentiment towards the Healthcare sector ought to swing initially away from draconian fears over drug pricing."&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Barclays equity strategists included four pharma and healthcare companies in their list of the 10 European companies most likely to benefit from a Trump victory. You can see their chart below:</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5822fb50dd089525458b49de-1018/barclays healthcare stocks.png" alt="barclays healthcare stocks" data-mce-source="Barclays" /></span></span></p>
<p><span>On the flipside, RBC Capital Markets writes: "</span><span>If the Senate does become majority Democrat, the key question is what Senator Bernie Sanders&rsquo;s plans are, as he has spoken out about egregious&nbsp;</span><span>price</span><span>&nbsp;increases and could seek the Chairman position of the HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor &amp; Pensions). This particular scenario would cause a negative headwind for biotech stocks in the short to medium term, in our view."</span></p>
<p><span>The house did not turn Democrat, and in fact remained strongly Republican, therefore further suggesting a boost for the healthcare sector, particularly in Europe where many big firms are based.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pharmaceutical-and-healthcare-stocks-to-benefit-from-a-trump-presidency-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-branson-entrepreneurs-government-lacking-2016-11">Richard Branson: Entrepreneurs need to fill the gap where government is lacking</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/high-healthcare-premiums-hurt-us-economy-2016-11How high healthcare premiums could hurt the US economyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/high-healthcare-premiums-hurt-us-economy-2016-11
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 21:38:00 -0500John Del Vecchio
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/575b545652bcd0320c8c86db-2400/rtx2ctw2.jpg" alt="hospital doctor patients" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Suhaib Salem" data-mce-caption="A patient lies on a bed as a technician (L) adjusts a screen before the start of surgery." /></p><p>My tan from my recent trip to Florida has started to fade, but the impressions from several of the great speeches I attended at the Irrational Economic Summit have stayed with me.</p>
<p>One such speech was a by Raoul Pal, who gave a talk about major economic trends.</p>
<p>Pal is a former hedge fund manager from one of the premier firms in the industry. He looks at macroeconomic factors and uses the Business Cycle as a major role in his investment themes.</p>
<p>He suggested that, based on his analysis of the Institute for Supply Management&rsquo;s (ISM) survey, we&rsquo;re quite late in the Business Cycle. In fact, we could already be in a recession (as numbers get revised downward in later periods this would become apparent) or, if not now, than most certainly by Q1 of next year.</p>
<p>Pal also stated that, over the last 100 years, every president-elect that&rsquo;s succeeded a two-term president has been met with a recession. That&rsquo;s not good news for either Clinton or Trump.</p>
<p>While watching the presentation, and for a few days after, I thought about what might cause this recession. Then the answer hit me last Thursday.</p>
<p>Healthcare.</p>
<p>A friend of mine received his notice for increased premiums for 2017 last Thursday. His rates are rising 40%. That means about $4,000 will be picked from his pocket next year and siphoned off to pay healthcare premiums.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s $4,000 that doesn&rsquo;t get spent on dining out, vacations, music lessons for their daughter and other activities that improve quality of life. It&rsquo;s also $4,000 that doesn&rsquo;t filter through the economy.</p>
<p>See, when you spend $100 for a night out on the town, the servers spend their tips, the restaurant pays their suppliers who then buy more inventories, and the virtuous cycle of the dollar filtering through the economy revs up growth.</p>
<p>This is called the velocity of money.</p>
<p>With healthcare premiums, it goes into a big, black sinkhole with very little benefit to almost no one. A quick look at the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows that the velocity of money is in a death spiral.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s very bad news.</p>
<p>Of course, my friend isn&rsquo;t the only one affected by this. During a conversation with an insurance agent, I realized my friend got off relatively easily. Others are seeing much more dramatic increases of 60%-80%.</p>
<p>How do people feel about it? According to the agent, who has been accustomed to being yelled at a lot recently, they&rsquo;re &ldquo;pissed.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This could have implications for the presidential election depending on how many people receive their notices and become angry in response, and any nasty surprises on November 8 could roil the markets.</p>
<div>
<div></div>
</div>
<p>But it has broader implications way beyond the election. This could be the growth killer in 2017.</p>
<p>I haven&rsquo;t received my notices yet, but I already know I&rsquo;m getting hosed. My insurance company is pulling out of the state. So, I&rsquo;ll have the double pleasure of changing healthcare providers (again!) and paying more money for the privilege.</p>
<p>If you believe the government, healthcare costs are rising modestly. The healthcare inflation rate is 4.89%. That&rsquo;s actually <em>below</em> the long-term average of 5.41% according to government statistics!</p>
<p>Does hat make any sense to you?</p>
<p>To steal a phrase from George W. Bush in the 2000 election, it&rsquo;s &ldquo;fuzzy math.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Back in the real world, my own healthcare costs have risen 400% since I struck out on my own in business six years ago. While I&rsquo;ll pay the premium increase I ultimately receive for 2017, the money has to come from somewhere. The result? I&rsquo;m in complete hunker-down mode.</p>
<p>These increases, all while the quality of healthcare is going down, have severe implications for not only my family, but also millions of Americans in this country.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s going to spell death for 2017.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/overseas-money-not-really-overseas-2016-11" >The $1.3 trillion dollars held overseas by US corporations might not really be overseas</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/high-healthcare-premiums-hurt-us-economy-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ykk-zipper-label-almost-every-2016-11">Why almost every pair of jeans has a zipper that says ‘YKK’</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/drug-pricing-fight-in-california-ugly-2016-11The drug-pricing fight in California is getting uglyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/drug-pricing-fight-in-california-ugly-2016-11
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 22:08:00 -0500Rebecca Robbins and Meghana Keshavan
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5820f137691e882a4e8b47e8-2400/ap_508685718061.jpg" alt="Prop 61" data-mce-source="AP" /></p><p>The bitter campaign over high drug prices in California is heating up as it&rsquo;s winding down.</p>
<p>New polls show&nbsp;Californians deadlocked over a ballot proposition that would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/10/31/drug-prices-california-ballot/" target="_blank">cap the amount</a> some state health plans pay for medications.</p>
<p>In an 11th hour bid to rally support&nbsp;for the measure, Senator Bernie Sanders is canvassing the state Monday with <a href="https://twitter.com/YesonProp61/status/795352053342093312" target="_blank">events</a> in Los Angeles and Sacramento.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, his allies in the &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; campaign&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161106005039/en/CA-Prop.-61-Drug-CEO-%E2%80%98Wanted-Poster%E2%80%99" target="_blank">just put out</a>&nbsp;a series of brutal online &ldquo;Wanted&rdquo; ads painting pharma execs as criminals.</p>
<p>The &ldquo;No&rdquo; campaign, bankrolled by at least $109 million from big drug companies, is&nbsp;<a href="http://www.noprop61.com/" target="_blank">touting editorials</a> from top newspapers across the state&nbsp;opposing the measure. It&rsquo;s also <a href="http://www.noprop61.com/get-the-facts-on-61?gclid=COzmyarFldACFQhbhgodJewBTg" target="_blank">making the case</a> that the price cap would save money only for select Californians, while forcing pharmaceutical companies to raise prices for everyone else.</p>
<p>The &ldquo;No&rdquo; campaign is also&nbsp;pushing <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/7-tv-news-stations-have-aired-no-coverage-of-drug-price-reform-initiative-prop-61-despite-airing-nearly-17-million-in-anti-61-advertising-says-consumer-watchdog-300357806.html" target="_blank">an ad blitz</a> of its own: It&nbsp;spent an estimated $48 million on TV ads through Oct. 27, according to a review of media tracking data by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.</p>
<p>Recent polls show the race tightening. A <a href="http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2555.pdf#page=5" target="_blank">poll</a> released&nbsp;last Friday showed California voters evenly split, suggesting that drug companies&nbsp;have won over the vast majority of the <a href="http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2549.pdf#page=3" target="_blank">many persuadable voters</a> in recent weeks. Another poll released earlier last week found the ballot measure had the support of 51 percent of California voters.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s a far cry from over the&nbsp;summer, when a <a href="http://us11.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f8609630ae206654824f897b6&amp;id=e3cef637d7&amp;e=9c3df72e47" target="_blank">poll</a>commissioned by the &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; campaign found that two-thirds of likely California voters supported the measure.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5820f1a246e27a6a5a8b4792-2400/ap_275761427265.jpg" alt="Bernie Sanders addresses the Yes on 61 Press Conference" data-mce-source="Tomas Ovalle/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation" data-mce-caption="Bernie Sanders addresses the Yes on 61 Press Conference" data-link="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Yes-on-61-Press-Conference-with-Bernie-Sanders/fdc2a0249c0e45ebbc0b907af7f4b88c/20/0" /></p>
<p>To counter this drift, the &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; campaign is trying to shine&nbsp;the spotlight directly on&nbsp;the unpopular drug companies funding the opposition. The &ldquo;Wanted&rdquo; ads, which will run&nbsp;on TMZ, Facebook, Politico and other online sites, target Allergan&rsquo;s Brent Saunders, Johnson &amp; Johnson&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q17vgQUWboA" target="_blank">Alex Gorsky</a>, Merck&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhEvo5zf6l4" target="_blank">Kenneth Frazier</a>, Pfizer&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYNmND9cNhs" target="_blank">Ian Read</a>, AbbVie&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi6k95zmB0s" target="_blank">Richard Gonzalez</a>, and Amgen&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px-GKRDCEGQ" target="_blank">Robert Bradway</a>. They run through various settlements and fines that the pharma companies have paid over the years.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Court records alone show these drug companies have the morals and ethics of junkyard dogs,&rdquo; Garry South, the &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; campaign&rsquo;s chief strategist, said in a <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161106005039/en/CA-Prop.-61-Drug-CEO-%E2%80%98Wanted-Poster%E2%80%99" target="_blank">release</a>.</p>
<p>The measure was launched and has been promoted&nbsp;by fiery AIDS activist <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/06/aids-drug-price-michael-weinstein/" target="_blank">Michael Weinstein</a>.&nbsp;The &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; campaign has spent&nbsp;about $17 million, most of it from the nonprofit medical provider&nbsp;<a href="http://www.aidshealth.org/#/" target="_blank">AIDS Healthcare Foundation</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;state nurses association.</p>
<p>The ballot fight is believed to be&nbsp;the most expensive ever&nbsp;for a single ballot measure&nbsp;in California. It&rsquo;s being&nbsp;closely watched nationwide for the precedent it could set for the industry.&nbsp;One industry consultant has&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pharmexec.com/ground-zero-american-rx-price-controls-california" target="_blank">written</a> that the measure&rsquo;s passage &ldquo;would be a pricing disaster for the entire US drug industry.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The chief questions at stake: whether the measure&nbsp;would actually save significant money for the state or for patients. The &ldquo;No&rdquo; campaign warns of dire consequences if the measure passes, like reduced access to drugs and higher prices for veterans, but the &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; campaign says those things will only happen if the drug makers choose to make patients suffer.</p>
<p>An independent <a href="http://freepdfhosting.com/945f5c3f7f.pdf" target="_blank">analysis</a> from the state Legislative Analyst&rsquo;s Office deemed the size of any savings from the measure to be &ldquo;highly uncertain.&rdquo;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/drug-pricing-fight-in-california-ugly-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ykk-zipper-label-almost-every-2016-11">Why almost every pair of jeans has a zipper that says ‘YKK’</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-workout-regimen-2016-10What Cigna's CEO does to stay fit when he can't get to the gym (CI)http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-workout-regimen-2016-10
Sat, 05 Nov 2016 13:00:00 -0400Lydia Ramsey
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5817bdd4b28a6471188b552a-2391/david and cedric at finish line.jpg" alt="David and Cedric at Finish Line" data-mce-source="Cigna" /></p><p>Cigna CEO David Cordani works out every day.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"An average day for me is an hour workout in the morning before I start my day &mdash; no matter where I am in the world &mdash; to get that not just physical activity but stress reliever and quality of life," Cordani, who's a triathlete,&nbsp;told Business Insider.</p>
<p>Since Cigna&nbsp;is a global company, being out of town is more likely than not for Cordani. Even so, he doesn't miss a day.</p>
<p>"I'm a big believer that there's always a way to get in a workout," he told Business Insider via email. "I&rsquo;ve had hotels open their gyms ahead of schedule when the gym hours don&rsquo;t align with my work schedule. And when I&rsquo;m at a hotel without a gym and exercising outdoors isn&rsquo;t an option, I&rsquo;ll run the stairs."</p>
<p>Cordani's in his 25th year running triathlons, and has competed in more than 125 races. He also participates in&nbsp;that also participates in Achilles International, a program in which&nbsp;he runs races guiding veterans who may be single or double-amputee.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-30-genetics-test-for-superhero-genes-2016-8" >I took a $30 test that told me if I had 'superhero' genes — and it was by far the most fun test I've taken</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mckesson-warns-about-wholesalers-drug-price-scrutiny-shares-fall-2016-10" >Drug wholesalers are getting slammed after McKesson warned that cost scrutiny is hurting its business</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-workout-regimen-2016-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dog-breeds-bull-dog-german-shepherds-2016-11">Here's what popular dog breeds looked like before and after 100 years of breeding</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/using-nhs-as-an-american-2016-10Here's what it's like to be an American using Britain's National Health Systemhttp://www.businessinsider.com/using-nhs-as-an-american-2016-10
Sat, 05 Nov 2016 12:00:00 -0400Erin Brodwin
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/58077d38dd0895d04b8b4921-1341/erin-brodwin.jpg" alt="erin brodwin" data-mce-source="Erin Brodwin" /></p><p>I recently moved to London from New York City to work for Business Insider's UK office. As an American all-too-familiar with the massive headache that is finding health care in the US,&nbsp;I braced myself for the process of enrolling in the National Health Service, the UK's public health care system.</p>
<p>Here's how my introduction to British health care went:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-antidepressants-2016-7" >I've been on antidepressants for a decade — here's what everyone gets wrong about them</a></strong></p>
<h3>First, I did a basic Google search. Typing in "find a doctor in the UK" took me here. There, under two sponsored ads, was a link to The National Health Service (NHS), Britain's public system of "socialized medicine."</h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58077d38dd0895d04b8b4922-400-300/first-i-did-a-basic-google-search-typing-in-find-a-doctor-in-the-uk-took-me-here-there-under-two-sponsored-ads-was-a-link-to-the-national-health-service-nhs-britains-public-system-of-socialized-medicine.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>On the NHS website, I was asked to enter my post code (the equivalent of a zip code in the US).</h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58077d38dd0895d04b8b4923-400-300/on-the-nhs-website-i-was-asked-to-enter-my-post-code-the-equivalent-of-a-zip-code-in-the-us.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx">NHS</a></em></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>After doing so, I got a list of results for doctor's offices within about a half-mile of the address of Business Insider's UK office. Nothing too surprising here, until I looked at one column...</h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58077d38dd0895d04b8b4924-400-300/after-doing-so-i-got-a-list-of-results-for-doctors-offices-within-about-a-half-mile-of-the-address-of-business-insiders-uk-office-nothing-too-surprising-here-until-i-looked-at-one-column.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/using-nhs-as-an-american-2016-10#/#-ratings-i-could-see-how-each-doctors-office-near-me-had-performed-according-to-patients-whod-evaluated-their-experience-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-annual-check-up-2016-10Why Cigna's CEO is going all-in on the annual check-up — even if the science doesn't back it up (CI)http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-annual-check-up-2016-10
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 11:58:54 -0400Lydia Ramsey
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/581783fd362ca478018b5eeb-2400/rtr3jh8k.jpg" alt="David Cordani" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Gary Cameron" data-mce-caption="Cigna CEO David Cordani is interviewed at the Reuters Health Summit 2014 in Washington April 1, 2014. " /></p><p>David Cordani, the CEO of insurance giant Cigna, wants you to go to your doctor. <br /><br />Cigna has begun a <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161026006041/en/Cigna-Cigna-Foundation-Cordani-Foundation-Partner-Bring">cross-country, 10-city tour</a>&nbsp;to persuade people to do this. It includes a TV ad starring&nbsp;actors who play doctors on television shows.</p>
<p>Cordani says that when people go in for check-ups, they can build relationships with their doctors, and think about their lifestyles and how they&nbsp;affect their health.</p>
<p>"Be it childhood immunizations, be it <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mammograms-overdiagnosing-breast-cancer-2016-10">mammographies</a>, be it <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1600448#t=article">colonoscopies</a>, etc., we've been able to prove that the early detection opportunity &mdash; when you connect the whole person to their physician or healthcare professional and support them the right way &mdash; could be powerful," Cordani said in an interview with Business Insider.</p>
<p>But studies on the effectiveness of annual check-ups shows they actually don't have a meaningful impact on long-term health. A <a href="http://www.cochrane.org/CD009009/EPOC_general-health-checks-for-reducing-illness-and-mortality">2012 Cochrane Review analysis</a> of 14 randomized controlled trials found that "there was no effect on the <abbr data-title="A way of expressing the chance of an event taking place, expressed as the number of events divided by the total number of observations or people. It can be stated as &lsquo;the chances of falling were one in four&rsquo; (1/4 = 25%). This measure is good no matter the incidence of events ie common or infrequent.">risk </abbr>of death, or on the <abbr data-title="A way of expressing the chance of an event taking place, expressed as the number of events divided by the total number of observations or people. It can be stated as &lsquo;the chances of falling were one in four&rsquo; (1/4 = 25%). This measure is good no matter the incidence of events ie common or infrequent.">risk</abbr> of death due to <abbr data-title="Of, relating to, or involving the heart and blood vessels">cardiovascular</abbr> diseases or cancer," the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm">two leading causes of death in the US</a>. That meant that there was no difference in the risk of death for these two areas between people who saw their doctors annually and those that didn't. <br /><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/581788c8362ca41c258b5c55-771/screen shot 2016-10-31 at 2.07.33 pm.png" alt="TV doctors" data-mce-source="YouTube screenshot" data-mce-caption="Cigna's TV doctor advertisement." data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-W-2gCF0Zc" /></p>
<p>Cigna, though, says its own data shows that checkups can help control costs, by catching problems early and preventing them.</p>
<p>It makes sense that Cigna would focus on this, since it is the one picking up the tab in many cases.</p>
<p>Cigna's focus is on four benchmarks: blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bmi-is-bogus-best-way-to-tell-if-youre-a-healthy-weight-2016-9/">body mass index</a>.</p>
<p>The company recently shared the results of a three-year study on 200,000 of its own customers. Two or more chronic conditions &mdash; as determined by unhealthy levels of those four benchmarks &mdash; raised a person's out of pocket costs by $1,300 and total healthcare costs by $9,000, compared to those with one or none of those conditions.</p>
<p>So the idea behind the checkup is to try and spot risk factors early on, when lifestyle changes might be able to keep a chronic condition from taking hold. And Cigna's not the only one promoting regular check-ups: the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/family/checkup/">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also backs them</a>, though the agency doesn't specify how often they should happen, which it notes depends on factors including age, health and family history and your lifestyle. &nbsp;</p>
<p>There are other reasons proponents of checkups might encourage them. For example, annual check-ups might serve as a chance to get comfortable with your doctor. (<a href="http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/9/26/13029358/annual-physical-tv-doctors-america">Vox's Sarah Kliff</a> wrote in September that this could be one reason to stop by regularly, in a piece that was otherwise about why checkups are a waste of time and money and lead to expensive tests that yield little benefit. Basically, she argues that Cigna's approach is wrong-headed.) <br /><br />But Cordani says that the conversation between a doctor and patient does matter.</p>
<p>"All annual check-ups aren't created equal," Cordani said. Cigna encourages physicians to build relationships with patients so they can ask about the patient's lifestyle and overall wellbeing in addition to checking their blood sugar levels.</p>
<p>The screenings, to him, play a big part &mdash; if even because they're an excuse for that visit to take place, and might start a conversation.</p>
<p>"These four indicators are building blocks, they're foundational to enable the physician-patient conversation to evolve in a much more specific way," he said.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/3m-young-scientist-winner-cheap-solar-power-2016-10" >This brilliant 13-year-old figured out how to make clean energy using a device that costs $5</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mckesson-warns-about-wholesalers-drug-price-scrutiny-shares-fall-2016-10" >Drug wholesalers are getting slammed after McKesson warned that cost scrutiny is hurting its business</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-annual-check-up-2016-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/science-workout-health-fitness-2016-12">This science-backed 7-minute workout is all you need to get back in shape</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-workout-regimen-2016-10Here's what the CEO of Cigna does to stay in shape when he can't get to the gym (CI)http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-workout-regimen-2016-10
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:18:00 -0400Lydia Ramsey
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5817bdd4b28a6471188b552a-2391/david and cedric at finish line.jpg" alt="David and Cedric at Finish Line" data-mce-source="Cigna" /></p><p>Cigna CEO David Cordani works out every day.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"An average day for me is an hour workout in the morning before I start my day &mdash; no matter where I am in the world &mdash; to get that not just physical activity but stress reliever and quality of life," Cordani, who's a triathlete,&nbsp;told Business Insider.</p>
<p>Since Cigna&nbsp;is a global company, being out of town is more likely than not for Cordani. Even so, he doesn't miss a day.</p>
<p>"I'm a big believer that there's always a way to get in a workout," he told Business Insider via email. "I&rsquo;ve had hotels open their gyms ahead of schedule when the gym hours don&rsquo;t align with my work schedule. And when I&rsquo;m at a hotel without a gym and exercising outdoors isn&rsquo;t an option, I&rsquo;ll run the stairs."</p>
<p>Cordani's in his 25th year running triathlons, and has competed in more than 125 races. He also participates in&nbsp;that also participates in Achilles International, a program in which&nbsp;he runs races guiding veterans who may be single or double-amputee.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-30-genetics-test-for-superhero-genes-2016-8" >I took a $30 test that told me if I had 'superhero' genes — and it was by far the most fun test I've taken</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mckesson-warns-about-wholesalers-drug-price-scrutiny-shares-fall-2016-10" >Drug wholesalers are getting slammed after McKesson warned that cost scrutiny is hurting its business</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-ceo-david-cordani-workout-regimen-2016-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dog-breeds-bull-dog-german-shepherds-2016-11">Here's what popular dog breeds looked like before and after 100 years of breeding</a></p>